A Labour of Love

Role: Head of Costume Workshop
Year started: 2011

Where are you based?

In the costume atelier at the Ballet Centre in Melbourne, but there’s a little to-ing and fro-ing between here and our Production Centre at Altona to look for costumes that we might want to use for events or displays, or to pull out old costumes to get inspiration when we’re building new ballets.

What does your job involve?

My role involves a lot of planning and logistics: making sure that the year is planned out in terms of looking at the ballets we’re putting on, how much work is going to be involved with creating the costumes for them, getting the right people on board to help us do the work, determining the costs associated, and calculating when we need to start working on those costumes so we’re ready for opening night.

What path did you take to do what you do?

I realised pretty early on that I wanted to work in costume. In Year 10, I took part in a drama workshop at school that was being run through NIDA [Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art], and I thought that it sounded right up my alley. I loved sewing, I loved ballet (although not performing!) and I loved the arts. It struck me that I could have a career that combined my three loves. I lived in the country at the time, so I started coming into the city to volunteer at different theatre organisations in the school holidays to get some experience and quite quickly realised that costume was for me. The rest is history …

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

The team in the costume workshop might spend six months planning and working on a production, so it’s incredibly satisfying to see that production eventually come to life. Although we have a designer, you do put a lot of yourself into the costumes you’re creating and it’s really lovely to see people flourish when they infuse their talents and skills and creativity into their work. That’s when I know I’ve done my job properly.

Do you have a favourite memory of your time with the company?

I loved working on David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty with the costume designer Gabriela Tylesova. She was a designer who really encouraged you to contribute. I mean, she obviously had her vision, but she really loved for you to bring yourself into realising the costumes. It was a very collaborative process and very rewarding.

What might people be surprised to learn about the work you do?

I think people are surprised by just how thought out and planned everything is. When we make a new costume, it’s planned from the beginning with the foresight of how it’s going to be altered in ten years’ time, how it’s going to be cleaned, the strength of the fabric, what might deteriorate first … Every costume is made so that each component can be individually replaced without having to take the whole costume apart. We do our due diligence to ensure that each costume – as an asset of the company – will really stand the test of time.

Role: Head of Staging
Year started: 2007

Where are you based?

Mainly out at the Production Centre in Altona, but I tend to follow the action – visiting workshops, meeting with designers, and following the sets on tour to oversee their installation.

What does your job involve?

I’m responsible for basically anything and everything to do with putting the show on. Take Don Quixote for example, because it’s what we call a ‘new build’, I worked with the designers, workshops, and technical team throughout the twelve months of the build process, making sure that each set element was ready and fitted into the trucks so that we could meet the production schedule and fit into the performance venues. There’s no real hard and fast recipe to it, you just have to think about every possible outcome, plan for every unknown and be ready for some real-time creative problem-solving.

What path did you take to do what you do?

I was from rural New South Wales originally and, straight out of school, I moved to Sydney. Once in Sydney, I fluked it by landing a job at the Sydney Opera House, where I worked while studying live theatre entertainment. Through those early years I gained a lot of exposure to Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet and all the major touring companies that came through the Opera House regularly. I realised that I had the right brain for theatre, so I jumped at the chance to work for The Australian Ballet when an offer came along, and have loved every minute of it.

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

I enjoy the challenge of transforming a design from a designer’s imagination to real life. Turning it into something that you can touch, that tricks audiences into thinking they’re in a forest or a Spanish village or a Roman castle. After working on a show for a few years – getting it from design all the way to stage – when the house lights go out and the curtain comes up on opening night, you get instant gratification from the audience’s applause, which is really rewarding.

What are you most proud of from your time working with the company?

One of the productions that really stands out to me is Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland©. It was so exciting, so different to anything else we were doing at the time, and working with Christopher Wheeldon and his artistic team was just amazing. It was an unforgettable time.

Do you have a favourite memory of your time with the company?

I think it would have to be finally seeing Anna Karenina staged after so many false starts due to COVID-19. To finally put it on after three solid years of trying was really emotional and rewarding. It was unreal and such a great show too. A real stand-out.

What might people be surprised to learn about the work you do?

Probably how many people it takes to put on a show. I often think, when I’m in the audience watching the company of dancers on stage during a performance, that there are probably just as many people backstage – if not more. It’s such a team effort, which I love.

Role: Wig Supervisor
Year started: 2002

Where are you based?

My workroom is based at the Production Centre in Altona, but I also tour with the company when we’re performing.

What does your job involve?

My trade is wig making. I am responsible for building our productions from the original designs, which also involves styling and fitting our wigs to the dancers’ measurements when we have casting. I’m fortunate to be involved in the final look when we rehearse our ballets in the theatre. We usually start planning a production about 18 months before a show opens, discussing what might be required when designs are presented, working out budgets and liaising with creatives on their vision. Restoring an existing production might involve refurbishing wigs and hairpieces or deciding to make new ones, depending on time and budget. Tech Week – the week before a production opens – is where it all comes together, and we see all the hard work finally on stage with the appropriate lighting. That’s when the final tweaks happen with my team, and we incorporate any final notes from Artistic staff. It’s the first time that everyone gets to see the wigs and make-up together with costumes in motion. It’s a challenging and busy time but rewarding when we get to opening night and celebrate.

What path did you take to do what you do?

I used to do ballet. Not professionally, but I was still dancing until I was 18 and while I was in my first year at make-up college. I kind of knew at the time I wanted to work behind the scenes in theatre. At Three Arts make-up college in Sydney we studied hairwork and wig knotting. It was during this time I met the team in the wig department at Opera Australia. I was offered a four-year apprenticeship in wig making, while also having the opportunity to work at the Sydney Opera House. I moved to Melbourne after working for the Opera and got my first job on the musical Beauty and the Beast, and eventually found my way to The Australian Ballet about 20 years ago.
I don’t think people realise the training that goes into being a wig supervisor, with all the different skills you need to do this role. I’ve worked very hard to get to this stage of my career, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to work closely with such talented artists both on and off stage.

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

Completing the journey from a design on paper to opening night, with smiles from everyone, hopefully! Our wig room is always full of dancers and staff leading up to a performance and it’s pretty entertaining, with lots of laughs.

What are you most proud of from your time working with the company?

The biggest production I’ve ever worked on is David McAllister’s The Sleeping Beauty. The designer Gabriela Tylesova really likes wigs, and I think we made around 100 wigs and hairpieces for that production, which was a huge accomplishment. Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland© would be a close second. Making wigs to look like rabbit ears was lots of fun!

What might people be surprised to learn about the work you do?

The majority of our wigs are made from human hair, which we source from hair merchants in Europe. When we need a wig to look more theatrical, as in The Sleeping Beauty, we use yak hair, which is great for amping up the volume in the dressing.

Role: Head of Scenic Art
Year started: 1983

Where are you based?

You’ll find me at the Altona Production Centre but during Tech Week, I’ll be in the theatre as the sets are installed for the first time.

What does your job involve?

There are a couple of parts to my role. The first is texturing and painting the scenery and sets used in The Australian Ballet’s productions – preparing the surfaces and painting them. There’s a lot of pre-planning and preparatory work involved to understand what the designer needs and wants, and to create the outcome that will work for all. The second is training up talented young scenic artists from the Victorian College of the Arts, who we hope will want to do my job when I no longer can. I’m getting older, you see, and there aren’t a lot of people in Victoria now who are doing this work. The Ballet work demands a very high standard of scenic painting, with knowledge of traditional methods and materials.

What path did you take to do what you do?

It started out with a bit of luck really because I met [set designer] Kristian Fredrikson and [stage and costume designer] Hugh Colman while I was at secondary school. I was struck by how fascinating they were and I loved the sound of everything they were doing, so I continued my study by doing a Fine Arts degree. When I finished the course, I decided I wanted to go into a bigger format and started trying to get into the industry. It was different then. In the 1970s, many companies didn’t even have female toilets and couldn’t fathom me climbing a ladder, but persistence paid off. I started turning up at Melbourne Theatre Company every day and – finally – they offered me a job!

What does an ‘average’ day in your work life look like?

I’ve got to say, the beauty of this position is that every day is different and every production is completely different too, so you’re learning new things all the time. It’s a really physical job as well. You’re moving flats around that might be 80 kilos or more, and you’re standing – often at height – painting the scenery with brushes, so there’s not much sitting-down time during the day. We love our morning tea and lunch breaks, as it’s time to take a breath and relax for a brief moment.

What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

Other than the scenic paint, which of course I’ve used forever, the materials we’re using to create new textures and effects change all the time and that’s why I love it. There’s so much to learn still and I love the challenges that pop up, figuring out the best materials or fabrics and developing new techniques to respond to them. It keeps me feeling young and happy.

What are you most proud of from your time working with the company?

I’ve been really fortunate to be able to work with some of the best designers and it’s been such a privilege. Kristian Fredrikson and John Truscott were just beautiful designers and certainly brought the best out of me. Working with Richard Roberts on Don Quixote was sensational too. I was looking at the stage only the other day, and I’m really very proud of what we created together. Every windmill sail, every tapestry, every taverna wall has a story to tell.

What might people be surprised to learn about the work you do?
People might not know how much mathematics is involved in scenic art. Pythagoras is our friend! Most jobs start with a 1:25 scale model of the set. From there, you’re using a scale ruler to translate the design and create the
full-scale work. You need to be very comfortable with a few basic principles.